Our first SW tank - 180 gal build

[reefgirl189]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Wow, that looks so beautiful!! What a great set up! Love the sail fin, red coral had one I was keeping an eye on, but sold.... how's the CBB doing?

Oh he's great! Couldn't be happier with him. He's my favorite fish. Ever since I was a little girl and I got a little national geographic copperband butterfly figurine from Dairy Queen, I've always wanted one. I just wish they would get along because then I would have about 10 of them

He eats mysis, bloodworms, mussels sometimes and plankton. I can't get him to eat pellets or flakes unfortunately but as long as he eats I am happy. Thanks for asking!

[reefgirl189]

Woke up at 6:30 AM on my only sleep in day this week. Great. So I took a few photos of what's been going on around here:

Painted the cabinetry for the stand and didn't like the color:


So I decided to paint it again with a bit more character:



Got a new RO/DI unit from BRS:



And here's a pic of the three amigos for fun. They just woke up in this pic. I guess I'm the rooster today :

[Coralgurl]

I'm gonna say it again, wow! That's beautiful, love the final look of the stand! You must be so happy with how it all turned out! I've been thinking of doing my stand lighter as well, haven't decided yet! I've also just got an ro unit, added a tds meter and water coming out is 0, going in is at 114.

Now to start loading it up with fish and corals! Your 3 amigos need some buddies!

[fishytime]

the stand does indeed look killer!.....love the "aged" look

[subman]

love that stand too! Im going to be starting mine soon for the 225

[subman]

how about some details on the cabinets? are they permanent or stuck on with Velcro/magnets. what wood did you use ect.

Also +1 on picking the right skimmer there is no better

[reefgirl189]

Originally Posted by subman

how about some details on the cabinets? are they permanent or stuck on with Velcro/magnets. what wood did you use ect.

Also +1 on picking the right skimmer there is no better

Thanks! The skimmer is still my favorite piece of equipment on this tank, although the radion is a close second.

As for the cabinetry:

It's one single piece of MDF. Took some moulding and glued it on to make the appearance of doors, drilled half way through on the back side and put 4 of these magnets in:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Pcs-N42-1...ht_2104wt_1141

We used carpenter glue to make the magnets stay where they were supposed to and placed them strategically to all 4 sides of the metal stand for maximum safety:



These magnets are a bit overkill but I will rarely need to go under the main display because my sump is in the basement. I also have a little one who gets involved with everything so I wanted something strong enough to keep him out until he's old enough to understand not to hang off of the handles and risk having the whole piece come crashing down on his head. Safety first!

Anyway if anyone was interested in some of the magnets I have 5 left over. Hubby broke one testing the strength of them, it smashed into another magnet with such a force that is shattered. Watch your fingers when working with these!

After the magnets were in and the glue dry I painted the cabinetry. I wanted a cream color to go with our kitchen cabinets which are directly across from the tank. It didn't turn out a very nice color so I redid it by mixing a slightly different color out of the original cream paint by adding some leftover paint from the main walls in the house and brushed it on sparingly. I then mixed another darker color and cut it with water to make it spread not as thickly. Brushed that color on too, and you can see the final result turned out kind of rustic looking. I like it, I'm happy.

Total project cost for the cabinet piece was $65 not including the magnets or tools to cut it. The company that built our cabinets quoted us $700.00.

Here's how the tank looks in the room:



Now we just need to finish the fireplace and the rest of the neverending home projects